Fuzhou, Fujian Jun 30, 2020 (Issuewire.com) - On June 24, the video conference of UNESCO-Africa-China High-level Dialogue for Supporting Priority Africa in the COVID-19 and Post-COVID Context was successfully held. Mr. Chen Baosheng, China's Minister of Education, delivered a keynote speech at the conference. The conference was co-hosted by Mr. Tian Xuejun, China's Deputy Minister of Education and Director of China National Commission for UNESCO, and Mr. Firmin Edouard Matoko, Assistant Director-General for UNESCO Priority Africa and External Relations. Dr. Xiong Li, CEO of NetDragon, was invited as a representative of Chinese education enterprises and shared NetDragon's experience in online education in the event of COVID-19.
Minister Chen Baosheng said China would spare no efforts in implementing the important resolutions made by the Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation and the Extraordinary China-Africa Summit on Solidarity Against COVID-19. China would support UNESCO to play a leading role and work together to provide more assistance to African countries in fighting against the pandemic. It is recommended to build a common educational community between China and Africa, which can enhance communication and enrich cooperation channels based on advanced technologies and shared high-quality resources in order to realize the 2030 Agenda on Education. China has coordinated a number of public and social educational resources and will provide African countries with high-quality distance education platforms and curriculum resources free of charge. By collaborating with UNESCO and through China-Africa collaboration, China would play an active part in African teachers training.
Inspired by the initiative of "Building a common educational community", NetDragon has initiated the "the Program of Online Education Capacity Training for African Teachers". As a part of China's contribution to helping Africa, the program focuses on education and assists African countries to overcome difficulties through in-depth cooperation between NetDragon, Ministry of Education of China, UNESCO, and China National Commission for UNESCO.
Dr. Xiong Li announced the details of the Online Education Training Program in Africa at the meeting. NetDragon will donate 1 million Edmodo accounts. This will begin with 10,000 teachers and NetDragon will also plan to train 100,000 teachers in total for online education skills. In the meantime, NetDragon will work with its partners to create 1,000 training courses on improving teachers' online teaching abilities.
Dr. Xiong Li also shared Edmodo's role in the COVID-19 response effort. "The outbreak of COVID-19 has caused a huge impact on global education," said Dr. Xiong Li, "NetDragon has provided digital education products and platforms to teachers and students timely after the outbreak." Edmodo has been recommended by the UNESCO for distance learning. Its classroom collaboration, teacher community, and various learning tools and resources make it a powerful solution during this particular time.
Edmodo has established a partnership with Vermont Agency of Education in the United States, offering uninterrupted support to teachers and students in the state of Vermont. In Egypt, Edmodo was selected by the Ministry of Education as the designated online learning platform for its K-12 education nationwide, which will reach more than 22 million students and more than 1 million teachers. Edmodo is also recognized by the Ministry of Education as an online learning platform in Thailand and will be deployed in more than 10,000 schools. NetDragon is also working with Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana, Serbia, and other countries to resume schools online and improve education quality by using Edmodo.
In June, Extraordinary China-Africa Summit on Solidarity Against COVID-19 was held in Beijing. The Summit showcased the friendship between China and Africa. The two sides will work closely towards stronger China-Africa cooperation and will release great potentials. As early as 2018, NetDragon launched Initiative of Digital Education in Africa (IDEA), which has received positive responses from African countries.
"Most countries have agreed on the importance of developing digital education during the pandemic. NetDragon looks forward to working with other countries to jointly promote digital education so that children around the world can enjoy the benefits of technology as well as a fair and quality education." Dr. Xiong Li said. NetDragon is using digital education to build a strong community between China and Africa as well as to achieve education innovation and to upgrade in Africa.
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